CHRIS praises Celtic for a good performance in Reykjavik but warns that Ronny Deila's side must improve before they face teams with more quality.

I CAN see where Ronny Deila is coming from when he complains about Celtic having to play three qualifying rounds in their attempt to reach the group stage of the Champions League.

A club that progressed to the last 16 of the competition only two years ago deserves to have that achievement recognised but UEFA rank each country’s co-efficient by pooling the results each team gets and there’s no doubt Celtic have suffered because the others haven’t done well.

It’s about time a fairer system was introduced so that clubs who do wellare not dragged down by the results of others.

I don’t think anyone can deny clubs who regularly make the Champions League deserve to be treated better and should not be reliant on how other teams in their country do.

Celtic have no control over how the likes of Motherwell or St Johnstone get on so why should they be dependent on their results?

Right now, though, that’s the position they find themselves in and they are getting on with it.

On Tuesday night in Reykjavik they did what they had to do in Deila’s first competitive fixture and won much more comfortably than the 1-0 score suggests.

It was a good performance and some of the passing was excellent but the quality of the opposition has to be taken into account.

Celtic will face much better teams than the Icelandic champions over the coming season and I’d expect them to score a few more against them at Murrayfield in the second leg next week.

RK Reykjavik will have to come out more if they are to score a goal that might get them back into the tie and that should open the door a little wider for Celtic’s attacking players.

That said, my main concern on Tuesday night was the lack of pace in the side. To be an effective counter-attacking team – as Celtic will have to be against better opposition – pace is paramount and without James Forrest in the line-up, Celtic have none.

That’s a worry for me but I am sure Deila and John Collins are aware of that situation and will be looking to address it.

On Tuesday, they had Leigh Griffiths and Callum McGregor in the wide areas. Griffiths didn’t look happy there. He is probably the most natural finisher at the club and is more effective through the middle.

I was pleased to see McGregor mark his debut with the winning goal. There is always a danger of hyping a youngster up too much but I don’t believe that will happen in this case.

The lad is 21 and has had a season at Notts County where he scored 14 goals. He isn’t a wet-behind-the-ears rookie and he looked comfortable in first-team surroundings, showing a good touch and plenty of willingness to get into good areas.

He could have a bright future, he is not blessed with electrifying speed either and we all saw at the World Cup just how important it is to have pace in your armoury.

My worry for Celtic is that good teams will find it comfortable to play against them.

They have good forward players but they are all similar in many ways, in size and stature.

Putting it simply, Kris Commons, Anthony Stokes, Griffiths and Teemu Pukki all have similar attributes and style of play.

They all like to come to the ball with the exception of Griffiths who is not blessed with exceptional pace.

Amido Balde did not travel and looks to be surplus to requirements. Georgios Samaras has not been replaced.

Both Balde and Samaras had a physical presence and in theory gave Celtic an option to score goals from crosses or to be more direct if teams become difficult to play through.

In addition to that, none of the above have real genuine pace which all defenders fear.

Good teams can set up against Celtic knowing the likes of Commons, Stokes and Griffiths are clever players and on their day can win games with individual brilliance but can take comfort in the fact that none of the Celtic forwards possess the genuine pace to hurt them or offer the real physical presence to unsettle defenders like a John Hartson type can.

Coaching is important, of course, and I have no doubt Deila knows his stuff.

But he can’t make these guys quicker or taller so as Celtic move through the levels they becomes less of a forward threat because they simply lack options in the way they can play due to the personnel. Dermot Desmond was at the game but I am not convinced he will open the purse strings very wide.

I can understand why he and Peter Lawwell are being cautious because spending £5million or £6m on a striker is still no guarantee Celtic will get through the Champions League qualifiers as they are likely to get a really tough team at the play-off stage.

So if they don’t get through, would they need a player of that calibre and on a huge salary to win the Scottish title again? I don’t think so.

It would be a gamble to splash really big money and I can see why they would be reluctant to do that.

But in order to give Deila a chance to make his mark he has to be given leeway to bring in fresh faces because right now I doubt Celtic are strong enough to test teams at the very top level.

There was enough from Celtic’s first outing under Deila to be encouraged about – but much bigger tests are on the horizon.